Learning Styles in Children

One of the primary considerations you have to deal with as a parent and a home schoolteacher is your child’s learning style. Not all learning programs are suitable for all students because of their individual preferences and behavior.

It is crucial for you to understand that each child has a unique learning style that should be the basis for an effective home education program.

Different learning styles require different approaches and techniques. Unlike traditional educational approaches that make use general concepts, modern learning methods focus on a student’s specific behavior, as well as his or her skills and weaknesses.

Developing a comprehensive program based on your child’s learning behavior will enable you to maximize your child’s potentials while improving on other aspects that need your attention.

In a nutshell, there are three main learning styles:

- Visual

- Auditory

- and Kinesthetic

These general categories exhibit unique features that can sometimes change depending on environmental factors like a child’s upbringing and relationships with other people.

Visual

It is estimated that 80 percent of what we learn is through our vision. From an early age, a child acquires valuable information about his surroundings through his or her eyes. Because of this fact, normal schooling makes use of methods that favor visual learners. Children who are primarily visual learners tend to get information through reading books. They can also learn more from pictures and other visual materials. If you notice that your child is tidy and organized in their learning habits, then he might be a visual learner.

Students of this style are drawn to paintings, crafts, and other arts. They also have a wonderful sense of imagination and are known to be very creative. If you have a child like this, you may want to keep him enrolled in a regular school. You can however, give your child a better chance at maximizing their inborn skills and enroll them in home schooling. A program can then be developed to cater to your child’s forte and utilize their potential.

Auditory

For some children, their sense of sound allows them to gather large volumes of information and have them processed accordingly. A child is most probably an auditory learner if he or she is good at listening to instructions and is very sensitive to variations in spoken words. They excel in gaining knowledge from conversations and lectures. Because listening requires more concentration than seeing, students of this learning style can be more discerning. They are usually more attentive in class and can distinguish different ideas just by listening to them. Because information revealed through speaking are not usually recorded accurately in class, the memory capacity of auditory learners exceed those of visual learners. Children of this type also enjoy studying with music in the background. Auditory children also can pick up instruments rather quickly. You can find music teachers that specialize in auditory teaching.

For them, sounds provide the best medium of instruction. Unlike other students, these kind of learners do not get bored easily with teachers who are fond of lectures. If your child is an auditory learner, he or she can also be creative and have an imaginative mind. Without relying heavily on visual models, auditory learners become skilled at interpreting information and reproducing them using their own understanding. Students of this classification often stand out in college because they enjoy class lectures and find listening to teachers a rewarding activity.

However, because regular schools favor visual learning, auditory learners can find it hard to gain useful education from them. As a result, many students have to enroll in home schooling programs to enhance their skills. Home schooling can be programmed in such a way that it gives auditory learners the opportunity to learn using a medium they are familiar with and find no faults with. If you think that your child is of this learning style, then you may want to find a suitable program that will help you and your child develop his potential without sacrificing his listening skills.

Kinesthetic

A child who has a kinesthetic learning style cannot just sit still and wait for information to be given. They surpass in finding out things for themselves without any needs for guidance. Explorers at heart, kinesthetic learners are known to be quite active even before a lesson proper. Their natural curiosity drives them to make new discoveries, making it hard for regular schools to limit their movement. Children of this learning style are often mistaken to be rowdy and undisciplined. That however, is a grave misconception. Kinaesthetic learners always seem to be moving around because they see their surroundings differently. For them, the world is just a huge playground full of wonderful things they want to discover and explore.

Your child is probably a kinesthetic learner if he or she is fond of tinkering with toys, trying to find out how they work. They are also quick learners, especially when left alone to examine a particular object. These children can quickly put one and one together and have a great capacity to understand complex processes and procedures. A student who exhibits this particular learning behavior is always at the forefront of experimentation and exploration.

They excel in discovering how machines operate and how a process works. Students of this particular behavior are more of doers than thinkers. If your child shows an extreme fondness of taking things apart to discover how they function, you should consider home schooling. They should be given the opportunity to excel in their studies using their natural skills.

Observing how your child learns is the first step in developing a good home schooling program. Create a list of your child’s learning behaviors and determine whether he is a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner.

Choosing the right lessons, activities, and teaching methods will put your child on the right track to a successful future. In their formative years, children will develop certain attitudes towards school and learning.

Parents like you should pay close attention to their preferences and consider alternative education if you feel that regular school systems have failed in helping students achieve their full potential.